Toni Morrison and Malcolm X On Mike Brown and the Police In Ferguson

What’s happening in Ferguson, Missouri around the killing of unarmed teenager Mike Brown is playing out according to a familiar script. The timeline of events and reaction by local and national authorities are so predictable that they don’t even require new analysis. More than 50 years ago, Malcolm X gave a speech on police brutality and how cases are handled in the mainstream media and society. Watch below.

Then, during the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson, author Toni Morrison appeared on “Charlie Rose” and offered comments on the racists association of blackness with criminality. Though the words were about Simpson’s case, they apply all too well all these years later to the situation in Ferguson and new smears against Mike Brown. Watch below.